The Korea Herald

[Roger McNamee] Social media’s junkies and dealers

We were warned. The venture capitalist and Netscape founder Marc Andreessen wrote a widely read essay in 2011 entitled “Why Software is Eating the World.” But we didn’t take Andreessen seriously; we thought it was only a metaphor. Now we face the challenge of extracting the world from the jaws of internet platform monopolies.I used to be a technology optimist. During a 35-year career investing in the best and brightest of Silicon Valley, I was lucky enough to be part of the personal computer, mo

Jan. 28, 2018

[Roger McNamee] Social media’s junkies and dealers

[Leonid Bershidsky] How Ukraine’s president fooled Joe Biden

The liberal world order, insofar as it still exists, is about rules and conditionality: If you stay on the righteous path, you’ll get help. On Tuesday, former US Vice President Joe Biden explained how this worked for Ukraine while he was the Obama administration’s point man on the rebellious post-Soviet nation. The reminiscences should serve as a cautionary tale for International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde, who met Wednesday with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Davos to discus

Jan. 28, 2018

[Ferdinando Giugliano] Europe isn’t quite as united as it claims

The choreography could not have been better this week. The leaders of the eurozone’s three largest economies took the stage at the World Economic Forum in Davos one after the other to deliver the same message. In the era of Donald Trump’s “America First,” the leaders of Italy, Germany and France all spoke up to oppose protectionism and embrace multilateralism.Cooperation will start at home, they pledged: the euro area will strive to forge closer ties starting this year. As French President Emman

Jan. 28, 2018

[Editorial] Good momentum

It has always been challenging for a South Korean president to host a visiting Japanese prime minister. It will be the same when President Moon Jae-in receives Shinzo Abe in Seoul in about two weeks. The Japanese leader will be coming to Korea to attend the opening ceremony of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics. This normally be a ceremonial, goodwill event, but a reignited feud over the “comfort women” issue and the North Korean nuclear crisis threaten to make Abe’s visit more of a diplomatic chal

Jan. 26, 2018

[Noah Smith] Trump’s tariff is not a big deal

President Donald Trump has imposed 30 percent tariffs on solar panels made outside the US. It’s hard to tell why he’s doing this. It could be a protectionist move, or it could be designed to hurt renewable energy and protect the dying coal industry. But whatever the reason, the consequences probably won’t be severe. The solar revolution is happening so fast that the tariff will make little difference.On one hand, the solar tariffs could be the beginning of Trump’s long-awaited attempt to make Am

Jan. 26, 2018

[Noah Smith] Trump’s tariff is not a big deal

[John M. Crisp] Two good reasons to legalize 'Dreamers'

Legislation requires bargaining, and bargaining requires bargaining chips, which are evaluated, offered, withdrawn and exchanged until consensus is achieved.　Give me more rights to offshore drilling, and I’ll support your position on Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act reauthorization. Give me more money for border security, and I’ll vote for higher auto gas mileage standards. And so on.　But it’s worth remembering that all bargaining chips aren’t identical. Some are theoretical or take effect

Jan. 26, 2018

[Leonid Bershidsky] Generals want money for yesterday’s Cold War

UK and US generals have good reasons to be grateful to Russian President Vladimir Putin. For the first time since the Cold War, Russia serves as a compelling argument in the budgetary tug-of-war and a focus of military strategies -- a far easier one than the non-state threats that confounded military thinking for the last quarter of a century. The problem with the generals’ take on the Russian threat, though, is that they want more money for old-school kinetic might and military bases when the a

Jan. 25, 2018

[Leonid Bershidsky] Generals want money for yesterday’s Cold War

[Ferdinando Giugliano] Davos warms to Trumponomics

Have criticisms of Donald Trump’s economic policy gone too far? Whisper it quietly, but 12 months after the beginning of the Trump presidency, several economists and business leaders appear willing to give Trump and his tax reform a chance.　It may be down to the stock market highs, or perhaps to the announcements by companies like Apple and Walmart that they are willing to invest in the US and pay workers higher wages. Still, the apocalyptic fears that accompanied Trump’s arrival at the White Ho

Jan. 25, 2018

[Ferdinando Giugliano] Davos warms to Trumponomics

[The San Diego Union-Tribune] Government shutdown: Whose fault? Who cares? What a joke

Whose fault?　Who cares?　Schumer Shutdown? Trump Shutdown? Honestly, it doesn’t matter. The brief US government shutdown that started at midnight on Friday and ended on Monday won’t even rate an asterisk in history books, while the weekend’s other big story — the second annual wave of women’s marches that swept hundreds of thousands of women and men into city streets coast to coast — merits a mention in any chapter on our “Me Too” era of empowerment.　Let’s be clear: The women’s marches were a sig

Jan. 25, 2018

[David J. Smith] Building a better world through travel abroad

I recently returned from three weeks in southern Africa. Though we have always been a traveling family, we had a specific purpose for this trip: to spend time with our son serving in the Peace Corps in Namibia.　After traveling through Zambia and Namibia, we ended in Cape Town, South Africa. There, I was struck by a message on a tourist bus: “Go places. Prosper.” And at the airport, Mark Twain’s famous quote that “travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness” was displayed at the

Jan. 25, 2018

[David Ignatius] As Islamic State group battle ends, old feuds resume

Talking with Gen. Joseph Votel, the commander of American troops in the Middle East, is a paradoxical reminder of the limits of US military power to determine political outcomes. American bombs helped destroy the Islamic State group in Syria, but they can’t stitch the rag doll of the Syrian nation back together.Syria’s plight actually got a bit worse this week, as Turkey invaded the border region known as Afrin. Turkey says it’s protecting itself against the Syrian Kurdish organization known as

Jan. 25, 2018

[Kathy Bloomgarden] Building gender-inclusive workplace

The wave of high-profile sexual harassment cases that began with revelations from Hollywood is having a profound impact on far less glamorous work environments. Just as major film studios have been forced to take action against abuse, a similar revolution -- powered by the #MeToo movement of women speaking out -- is sweeping workplaces everywhere.It has been terrible to learn of the abuse that women suffered at the hands of powerful men like Harvey Weinstein, Matt Lauer and Al Franken. But it is

Jan. 24, 2018

[Kathy Bloomgarden] Building gender-inclusive workplace

[Tyler Cowen] How to root out corruption without introducing more

Are you worried there may be corruption in the American executive branch today, yet also fearful that the tools for rooting out such malfeasance may be abused? If so, welcome to the dilemmas surrounding the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.There has been speculation about whether President Donald Trump and his real estate operations abroad might be guilty of FCPA violations -- a cause for concern -- but at the same time the federal government can use the FCPA to threaten executives with prison term

Jan. 24, 2018

[Tyler Cowen] How to root out corruption without introducing more

[Leonid Bershidsky] Putin can find love in Italy, but no help

After a disappointing French presidential election, Russian President Vladimir Putin appears to get closer to what he wants in Italy. After the March election, it is almost certain to get both a pro-Russian government and a sizable pro-Russian opposition. They will likely make sure that the European Union won't expand sanctions against Russia -- but the sanctions are unlikely to be lifted.　The Kremlin’s policy, based largely on economic interest, is to drive a wedge between the US and the EU on

Jan. 24, 2018

[Andrew Malcolm] US Congress picks posturing over governing

Despite media hysteria during the recently deceased government shutdown, the reality is that the United States has had such political paralysis on average every 30 months for nearly a half-century, lasting on average seven days.　Shutdowns, even these partial ones few people notice outside Washington, raise many questions: What exactly gets shut down? When isn’t the government shut down over a weekend? Why are these stalemates never solved for good? Will voters even remember this hiatus come Nove

Jan. 24, 2018

[Dana Hill] 4 reasons Norwegians won’t go near Trump’s welcome mat

Recently, President Donald Trump allegedly voiced his desire for “more people from places like Norway” to immigrate to the US.That’s just not going to happen.Last year, I advised 24 law students studying the law and culture of Norway. During spring break, we traveled to Tromso and Oslo, Norway, to interview lawyers, nongovernmental organizations and businesspeople about a variety of the country’s legal issues. Based on our visit, here’s why the president is wrongheaded in thinking that hordes of

Jan. 24, 2018

[Lee Jae-min] Growing social divide over real estate

Many foreign colleagues of mine would ask: How could one deposit such an enormous amount money with a stranger without any tangible guarantee? Their surprise comes again when they hear that there is no monthly payment. One final surprise is that you get the entire deposit back when you vacate. This is the “Jeonse” system in Korea, a unique house renting system only to be seen in Korea (other sporadic examples are found in other countries but not as prevalent as in Korea). Its popularity has been

Jan. 23, 2018

[Lee Jae-min] Growing social divide over real estate

[Kim Seong-kon] Reconciliation of digital with analog

The world is now divided into the “push-and-press” generation and the “touch-and-slide” generation. The former always tries to solve problems they face by pushing something, for example their luck, or other people, or even nuclear launch buttons. On the contrary, the latter almost always attempts to solve the problems they encounter by touching and sliding their fingers across a screen. The chasm between these two radically different generations seems to be despondently unfathomable and unbridge

Jan. 23, 2018

[Kim Seong-kon] Reconciliation of digital with analog

[Albert R. Hunt] Trump erodes global power of American values

Donald Trump’s tirade a week ago against nonwhite countries may be tearing the final fiber off American soft power.　Witness the worldwide reaction in the time since the president of the United States called African and Latin American countries “s---holes.” This is the latest in a series of offensive actions or assertions by the president that undercuts the appeal of America and American values.　“Trump has been a disaster for American soft power,” said Joseph Nye, the distinguished diplomat and a

Jan. 23, 2018

[Keenan Fagan] President Moon’s Olympian anti-international moves

Both South Korea and North Korea have been striving to be recognized as players on the global stage for many years. North Korea has been doing it by building nuclear weapons and missiles to get the world’s attention with threats. South Korea is currently doing it by welcoming international citizens to PyeongChang for the Olympics. While the North rejects internationalism -- even dictator Kim Jong-un does not travel abroad -- the South has come to see the benefits of embracing it. This embrace be

Jan. 23, 2018